6.  The applicant was born in 1942 and lives in Tallinn.
7.  The applicant had been a tenant of a municipal apartment in Tallinn since 1968.
8.  By a decision of the Tallinn City Commission for the Return and Compensation of Unlawfully Expropriated Property (“the City Commission” – Õigusvastaselt võõrandatud vara tagastamise ja kompenseerimise Tallinna linnakomisjon) of 21 November 1994, S. was recognised as entitled under property reform legislation to have the ownership of the block of flats including the applicant’s apartment, being previously nationalised property, returned.
9.  On 2 February 1995 the applicant lodged an application with the municipal authority to be given the opportunity to become owner of the apartment through the privatisation process being conducted under the Privatisation of Dwellings Act (Eluruumide erastamise seadus).
10.  On 28 July 1995 the Tallinn City Government decided to return the property to S., who on 1 September 1999 sold it to a private limited company, C.
11.  The applicant lodged a complaint with the Central Commission for the Return and Compensation of Unlawfully Expropriated Property (Õigusvastaselt võõrandatud vara tagastamise ja kompenseerimise keskkomisjon) after having discovered certain archived documents, on the basis of which she concluded that the property should not have been returned to S. By a decision of the Central Commission of 16 December 1999 the matter was referred to the Tallinn City Commission for fresh examination.
12.  On 28 August 2000, after having reconsidered the case, the City Commission found that the new evidence did not warrant a different conclusion and therefore confirmed its earlier decision.
13.  The applicant lodged a complaint with the Tallinn Administrative Court, which on 26 January 2001 declared the decision of the City Commission unlawful for lack of reasoning.
14.  On 19 March 2001 the City Commission invalidated its decision of 21 November 1994 and took a new decision. Having assessed the evidence, including the additional evidence presented by the applicant, it once again recognised S. as the person entitled to the disputed property under property reform legislation.
15.  Subsequently, the applicant brought a civil suit against the City of Tallinn, claiming damages for the lost opportunity to seek ownership of the disputed apartment through its privatisation. On 12 October 2001 the Tallinn City Court awarded her 700,000 kroons (EEK – corresponding to approximately 45,000 euros (EUR)). On 21 May 2002 the Tallinn Court of Appeal quashed the City Court’s judgment, finding that the administrative and not the civil courts had jurisdiction over the matter.
16.  In 2002 R., a public limited company which had in the meantime become the owner of the apartment, agreed to sell the apartment to a third party. On 26 November 2002 the applicant exercised a right of pre-emption in her favour and bought the property for EEK 700,000. The purchase was financed by the applicant’s daughter to whom the applicant gifted title to the disputed apartment on 25 May 2005.
17.  On 19 June 2002 the applicant lodged a complaint against the City of Tallinn with the Tallinn Administrative Court, seeking the award of EEK 880,000 (EUR 56,000) in damages for the loss of the opportunity to become the owner of the apartment through privatisation.
18.  On 27 August 2002 the Administrative Court decided not to proceed with the case, as the relevant court fees had not been paid. On 1 October 2002, at the applicant’s request, the Administrative Court granted her exemption from the payment of the fee. It scheduled a hearing for 31 January 2003.
19.  On 31 January 2003 a hearing was held at the Tallinn Administrative Court. The applicant requested adjournment of the hearing as she wanted to make additional written submissions. The court granted the request and scheduled the next hearing for 27 February 2003.
20.  On 13 February 2003 the applicant amended her complaint and also requested that parts of the City Commission’s decision of 19 March 2001 be invalidated. The second complaint was initially registered as a separate case and the hearing of 27 February 2003 was adjourned because of the applicant’s new complaint.
21.  On 20 March 2003 the Administrative Court joined the two proceedings and asked the applicant to further specify her claim. On 15 April 2003 the court decided that the new complaint had been filed within the statutory time-limit and scheduled a hearing for 9 June 2003.
22.  On 9 June 2003 a hearing was held at the Tallinn Administrative Court. By a judgment delivered on 20 June 2003 the Administrative Court dismissed the complaint.
23.  In order to appeal, the applicant was required to give notice of her intention to lodge an appeal. She failed to give such notice. However, she subsequently lodged an appeal which was considered as having been lodged out of time because she had not given the prior notice. On 21 August 2003 the Administrative Court refused to restore the time-limit for lodging the appeal. On 23 October 2003 the Tallinn Court of Appeal dismissed a procedural appeal brought by the applicant against this refusal. On 29 January 2004 the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court quashed the lower courts’ decisions and restored the time-limit for the applicant to make an appeal.
24.  On 9 February 2004 the Tallinn Administrative Court gave the applicant a ten-day time-limit for paying the court fee applicable to her appeal. The applicant’s request for an exemption was dismissed by the Administrative Court but granted in part by the Tallinn Court of Appeal on 14 May 2004.
25.  On 28 June 2005 the Tallinn Court of Appeal adjourned its hearing at the applicant’s request because of negotiations between the parties. The hearing was rescheduled for 3 October 2005.
26.  By a judgment delivered on 17 October 2005 the Tallinn Court of Appeal quashed the Administrative Court’s judgment of 20 June 2003 in so far as it concerned the City Commission’s decision of 19 March 2001, declaring that decision unlawful. It also amended the reasoning for dismissing the applicant’s claim for damages.
27.  The applicant did not appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment. On 15 November 2005 the Tallinn City Government lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the Court of Appeal’s judgment in so far as it concerned the unlawfulness of the City Commission’s decision. On 1 February 2006 the Supreme Court adjourned its consideration of whether to accept the appeal for examination on the merits. The court determined that adjournment was necessary because the present case concerned matters similar to those dealt with in another case (no. 3-3-1-63-05) which the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court had referred to the plenary session of the Supreme Court on 19 December 2005. That case was finally resolved by the Supreme Court’s judgment of 6 December 2006 (see paragraphs 45 to 48 below).
28.  On 20 December 2006 the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court decided to accept the appeal by the Tallinn City Government in the case concerning the applicant and on 1 March 2007 it decided to refer the case to the full panel of the Administrative Law Chamber.
29.  On 23 March 2007 the Administrative Law Chamber dismissed the applicant’s request for an oral hearing.
30.  On 19 June 2007 the Administrative Law Chamber decided to adjourn the proceedings in the case concerning the applicant pending the outcome of another case (no. 3-3-2-1-07) which had been referred to the plenary session of the Supreme Court on the same date. In the latter case Supreme Court’s judgment was delivered on 10 March 2008 (see paragraphs 52 and 53 below).
31.  By a judgment of 14 May 2008 the Administrative Law Chamber of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Tallinn City Government in the case concerning the applicant and upheld the Court of Appeal’s judgment.